Derek Willis arrested?

[Jkwo_rivals113955]

Btw - the UL board is saying its a big deal cause it's underage drinking being 9 days from 21. That makes it major.

Someone help me out. Wasn't therer a performance in Minardi hall that involved underage?

For perspective... Derek Willis tipsy in public 10 days before his 21st is one of the two biggest scandals off the court we've had under Cal (along with TJ running from a crash). That's the very worst of our record.

Do you think UL can top those two incidents? For the life of me I can't recall if they've been up to anything over there...

 

[EnglandWildcat]

Very stupid on his part going into his senior season where he should be a leader and is in competition for PT. I doubt Cal will take this as lightly as some in this thread. Since the car death of, I think Byrd was the driver, UK has had a pretty strict policy on this stuff. Disappointed in Derek considering his role on the team. And, yes, I know college kids drink, I was one of them. But , Derek is in a little different situation than your average college kid. Not the end of the world but not good either. Go ahead, pile on.

No piling on from me. While I don't think it's a big deal for college kids to be drinking underage, he has to realize that he has one of the most recognizable names and faces in the state. He doesn't just represent himself, but his university and his team. And the mug shot, in which he's acting like it's all a joke, doesn't help. I'm sure Cal will handle it appropriately and I'm not worried about it. But I'm also not going to treat it a flippantly as some here are.

 

[musrat59]

No piling on from me. While I don't think it's a big deal for college kids to be drinking underage, he has to realize that he has one of the most recognizable names and faces in the state. He doesn't just represent himself, but his university and his team. And the mug shot, in which he's acting like it's all a joke, doesn't help. I'm sure Cal will handle it appropriately and I'm not worried about it. But I'm also not going to treat it a flippantly as some here are.

 

[musrat59]

Maybe he was smiling because the arresting officer told him a lousy joke.

 

[jwheat]

I blame the first person to report it. @JRowland

 

[Drcatfan]

Cal and UK have every right to be pissed, and I'm sure this will put Willis in the dog house for a while or get him discipline. Cal has enough to worry about managing the extreme talents such as Cousins in the past. With guys like Cousins, you are willing to manage some of the off the court stuff because they provide so much talent on the court. Willis is marginally to earn playing time on this team as it is, so he has a short leash. Pulling a stunt like this does nothing but hurt him and like it or not is a little bit of a black eye on the program. If I was Cal, I would be pissed at Willis.

 

[Ineverplayedthegame]

Biggest fallout will be Cal has had trouble trusting Willis because of his self-reported lack of work ethic. This will allow Cal to once again question how serious Derek is when he has 2-3 people he can play ahead of him.

 

[Clive Gollings]

You're right. Lapse in judgement. Just had a half liter of coke on an empty stomach. Will sleep it off.

 

[mapcatfan_rivals31344]

My son just told me he heard a radio report that he has been dismissed from the team. Anyone else hear this?

If the report is true, that's a major blow for this team - we already are low on shooters. Hope the radio report was wrong!

 

[Kats23]

Not a big deal but I laugh at people saying this hurts Willis' leadership. Just because you're a senior doesn't make you a leader. Willis has never shown a flash of leadership ever. Even if he were to take the reigns this year, I highly doubt the players would look at him and say we're not listening, you were drunk at a bar with you girlfriend before you were 21.

lapse of judgement. Be smarter in the future. Move on folks.

 

[sambowieshin_rivals]

 

[coolcat9lives]

It's the first thing I thought when I saw the article. I definitely think that Cal will be upset about the mugshot. You think other fans will have that picture when we come to town?

I get that he was obviously on some mind altering substances and I've never been arrested but I feel like when you're getting a mugshot you're not really in a smiling mood at that point. But then again he could've been on some really good stuff.

I don't think it will get to that level outside of the team. It'll definitely get cleared up before October as long as Derek doesn't do anything like it again. The smiling is just going to make whatever physical punishment (conditioning) he gets even more terrible. I shudder thinking about it. Not condemning him at all. College basketball players drink and smoke weed in large numbers (gasp what?!). They are college kids, but if you get caught you got to deal with the consequences.

 

[Primedfor9]

My son just told me he heard a radio report that he has been dismissed from the team. Anyone else hear this?

If the report is true, that's a major blow for this team - we already are low on shooters. Hope the radio report was wrong!

Your son must be an idiot,

 

[GLR5555]

Your son must be an idiot,

What a DH statement.

 

[ZZBlueComet]

Love it. He's a kid. But he'll learn from this. Northern Ky/Cincy area police are a-holes. Lol

He's not a kid, he's a young man and a Senior. That being said, he wasn't driving, he wasn't in a brawl, he wasn't beating women, brandishing guns or getting tazed at a wedding by an off-duty cop. Punish him internally and move on.

 

[mapcatfan_rivals31344]

Your son must be an idiot,

Hardly. And your post was completely unnecessary.

When he sent me the text, he said he wasn't seeing it anywhere on line, and was doubting the validity. Just like to know if any one else heard it?

Hopefully the station had bad info.

 

[Primedfor9]

Hardly. And your post was completely unnecessary.

When he sent me the text, he said he wasn't seeing it anywhere on line, and was doubting the validity. Just like to know if any one else heard it?

Hopefully the station had bad info.

I thought your post was a wind up because there have been no reports of Willis being kicked off the team.

 

[mapcatfan_rivals31344]

I thought your post was a wind up because there have been no reports of Willis being kicked off the team.

I do know there are plenty of those type posters trolling this board. Surely we would be hearing from other outlets by now if it was true.

 

[Primedfor9]

I do know there are plenty of those type posters trolling this board. Surely we would be hearing from other outlets by now if it was true.

Apologies dude, I shouldn't have said that. That's why I thought it was a wind up, because there's been a lot of that lately, and some of the trolling posts have been from regular posters.

 

[Ron Mehico]

Just more in the saga of Derek Willis not having his mind right. Kid has a lot of god-given talent, but seems hell bent on wasting it. Lack of focus during games, not working out like he should have, smiling like a dbag during a mugshot. Obvious why Cal doesn't play him as much.

 

[sefus12]

Cal and UK have every right to be pissed, and I'm sure this will put Willis in the dog house for a while or get him discipline. Cal has enough to worry about managing the extreme talents such as Cousins in the past. With guys like Cousins, you are willing to manage some of the off the court stuff because they provide so much talent on the court. Willis is marginally to earn playing time on this team as it is, so he has a short leash. Pulling a stunt like this does nothing but hurt him and like it or not is a little bit of a black eye on the program. If I was Cal, I would be pissed at Willis.

Cousins didn't have any off-the-court stuff....

 

[sefus12]

Just more in the saga of Derek Willis not having his mind right. Kid has a lot of god-given talent, but seems hell bent on wasting it. Lack of focus during games, not working out like he should have, smiling like a dbag during a mugshot. Obvious why Cal doesn't play him as much.

That 44% 3-pt shooting really shows a lack of focus during games....

Some folks really need to use a little common sense before posting.

 

[Ron Mehico]

^^ Did you watch the Indiana game? Did you watch 70% of Willis games? Did you literally read the quotes he had about how his dad told him to play harder and how sometimes he's not engaged in the game? Common sense indeed.

 

[LeonThe Camel]

Since the car death of, I think Byrd was the driver, UK has had a pretty strict policy on this stuff. Go ahead, pile on.

Ok. You are kidding about this right? We over-reacted when that incident occurred and set up the policy where if you were caught you were banned from playing for a year. A second violation and you were off the team.
It was either Desmond Allison or Jules Camara that was the first/only basketball player to suffer this. The second person was the other of the above and the school changed the rule because they knew it would be detrimental to the team. And he sat out a few games.
What punishment he should serve is who knows. He wasn't driving, he wasn't said to be causing any major incident. He was drunk in public.
Probably going to make him sit out a game against a directional school that will have no affect on us. Turn the page.

 

[StubbornPenny]

In the grand scheme, not the hugest deal in the world. But still a really dumb move. Dumb dumb dumb. Willis, ya dumb.

If I were Cal, I'd like "oh, we're gonna find out just how dedicated you are to staying on this team. You're first to practice, you're last to leave, you get a whole bunch of drills the other guys don't have to do. Don't like it? Guess you weren't committed in the first place, bye."

Overall, I'm not gonna vilify a kid for drinking when he's 20. But you're going to be held to a different standard as a UK player, and if you can't handle that, don't be on the team. He's got some fences to mend, so buckle down and fly straight for the rest of the year.

 

[katwest]

What is bad about the whole thing, like some have mentioned is that he was always fighting to get to where he was last season and now he's managed to get back to the point where he is going to have to do it again. He is just like most young kids his age but Playing basketball at Kentucky exposes things like no other program. I remember him saying he thought the staff didn't like him and now as a senior to be, bad judgement knocks him down again. I hope he has the same determination to get his playing time back as he did have.

 

[maysvilleky]

I wouldn't be surprised if Cal doesn't throw the book at DW. It seems to me that DW has always been on a short leash with Cal.

 

[UKTOPDOG]

I wouldn't be surprised if Cal doesn't throw the book at DW. It seems to me that DW has always been on a short leash with Cal.

Agree...not a smart move by Derek...so Bullit County.

 

[catfanintx]

Desmond Allison was the one dismissed.

Ok. You are kidding about this right? We over-reacted when that incident occurred and set up the policy where if you were caught you were banned from playing for a year. A second violation and you were off the team.
It was either Desmond Allison or Jules Camara that was the first/only basketball player to suffer this. The second person was the other of the above and the school changed the rule because they knew it would be detrimental to the team. And he sat out a few games.
What punishment he should serve is who knows. He wasn't driving, he wasn't said to be causing any major incident. He was drunk in public.
Probably going to make him sit out a game against a directional school that will have no affect on us. Turn the page.

 

[Stonewall12]

Do you think Cal will suspend him?

Heck no

 

[topps coach]

I cannot believe a underage college kid was drinking.I know this would never happened when I was in college in the seventies.He should be severely punished.Cal should slap him on the wrist several times

 

[Rod Crandler]

If what KSR is reporting is true, that he was found laying outside of the open drivers side door of the car, then let's just hope the car had not been driven while he was in that state. If he was drinking and driving, then he should be off the team. Yeah the team up the road would just sweep this under the rug. I don't want us to be anything like that team.

 

[Blue63Madison]

According to the CJ, police found Derek laying passed out in the street. He should put that kind of effort into his play on the court.

 

[RalphDaltonFan]

Willis is an immature kid--but so are many kids in college. At least he wasn't behind the wheel and while this is embarrassing, it's also something a kid with such a lack of self esteem will be humbled by. Willis is a nice role player and this action likely assures his role will be 6th/7th man. A Sr who needs his girlfriend to speak on his behalf, makes a decision like this, and always has to tell you what he's going to do via his spokesperson/girlfriend, isn't any leader. Leadership is a natural thing that you have or don't--age isn't attached to it, and my guess is it'll help in terms of allowing Willis to settle into his role of supporting cast member and hopefully grow up. It's not what you do/have done, it's how you respond after it happens. Can't fix what's done, but you can learn from it.

 

[bthaunert]

As more details come out, it's a little more serious than first thought by most. The drinking doesn't bother me, but the fact he was lying outside an open drivers door is not good. If it comes out that he was driving, then I think Cal needs to take some action, regardless of what the arrest was for. Not saying kick him off the team, but some serious punishment imo.

 

[SpamburgerHamburger_rivals101482]

With the details out now, it's likely he had driven or was intending to. He deserves some pretty harsh punishment. Most college kids are going to drink. I did. They all do. But, this is far worse than the cops stopping a party around campus and him having a beer in his hand. Obviously it's important he's able to learn and earn back trust. Punishment needs to be harsh but not life changing like being kicked off the team. Mistakes no matter how bad deserve to be forgiven.

 

[David Rice]

If what KSR is reporting is true, that he was found laying outside of the open drivers side door of the car, then let's just hope the car had not been driven while he was in that state. If he was drinking and driving, then he should be off the team. Yeah the team up the road would just sweep this under the rug. I don't want us to be anything like that team.

Whoa whoa. I'm all for disiplining him but kicking him off the team is harsh.

 

[BigBlueFanGA]

^^ Did you watch the Indiana game? Did you watch 70% of Willis games? Did you literally read the quotes he had about how his dad told him to play harder and how sometimes he's not engaged in the game? Common sense indeed.

In the Indiana game, he was struggling with injuries. His dad's statements, if I'm not wrong yet again, were from before last season. As for the mug shot, is it proper etiquette to not smile?

 

[BigBlueFanGA]

If what KSR is reporting is true, that he was found laying outside of the open drivers side door of the car, then let's just hope the car had not been driven while he was in that state. If he was drinking and driving, then he should be off the team. Yeah the team up the road would just sweep this under the rug. I don't want us to be anything like that team.

I'm not sure how to reply to that other than to say, he was not arrested for DUI so isn't that issue moot?

 

[Orionorl]

Glad all you prosecutors out there will be doing the jury selection for this felony 'Almost DUI' charge you think is inevitable. It's PI. He will get Diversion. No big deal. Kids drink. It's summer.